26/11 prosecutor shot dead in Pakistan

The Pakistan government prosecutor investigating the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks was shot dead as he left his home in Islamabad on Friday with assailants pumping 12 bullets into him.

Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, who was also the prosecutor in the 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination case, was attacked by gunmen on a motorcycle.

Such attacks and the manner it was carried out are unusual in Islamabad and raised suspicion.

Ali was close to submitting final evidence against seven LeT members, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who coordinated the Mumbai attacks from a Karachi control room. Crucially, Ali had in mid-March approached the trial court seeking permission to obtain the voice samples of the accused.

Gunmen sprayed bullets into Ali hitting him in the head, arm and chest. Two others, including Ali’s guard, and a women bystander, were also injured in the attack that took place in broad daylight.

Police officials, however, said they suspected that the attack on Ali may have been because he was investigating the Benazir Bhutto murder case. The case was being heard in the Supreme Court and former President General Pervez Musharraf, who has been named in the case, was expected to testify. However, after the murder, the proceedings were suspended.